Kumbh Mela

All festivals of Hindus are primarily religious in significance and character, and Kumbh Mela is one of the main festivals for Hindus. It has been sometimes recorded to be one of the largest gatherings to be held anywhere on the planet.

Unlike all other festivals, Kumbh Mela is not an annual festival. This festival is held four times in every twelve years. Kumbh means a pot and mela means fair. The legend says that ages ago, demigods and demons, who are usually always at odds, signed a temporary deal to work together for churning the milk ocean and extracting the nectar of immortality from the lap of the ocean. Demigods and demons worked together to churn the ocean and finally the nectar of immortality appeared. However, the demons ran away with this kumbha or pot without giving demigods their rightful share on the nectar. Then ensued a fight for nectar that lasted for twelve days, and during this battle some drops of the nectar from the kumbha fell at four different places on this earth and they were Nasik, Haridwar, Prayag and Ujjain. The Kumbha Mela is organized at these four places during the twelve year period.

The ardh or half Kumbh Mela is observed every six years at Prayag and Haridwar. The purna or complete Kumbh Mela is held every twelve years at four places: Haridwar, Ujjain, Prayag or Nasik. And the maha or the greatest Kumbh Mela is held once every 144 years (after 12 purna Kumbh Melas) at Prayag. The last Maha Kumbh Mela to be held was in year 2001 and saw over 60 million people gathering to take a dip in holy waters.

Taking ritual bath in the holy waters is the major event of the festival. This is the only time when one can get to see holy men, who usually hide themselves in cave of Himalayas, coming down to take a dip in the holy waters. A lot of westerns who happened to attend one of the Kumbh Melas have talked about it as a life changing experience. There is definitely something divine to this fare.

Interesting link: http://goindia.about.com/od/festivalpictures/ig/Kumbh-Mela-Pictures/